News:

Your username and password for these discussion forums are unique to the forums. Your forum login information is separate from your My Adventure Cycling login information, and your login info for the Cyclosource online store. You will need to create a separate login for each of these. However, to make things a bit easier, you can use the same email and password for all three accounts. Also, please note that your login information for the forums is not connected to your Adventure Cycling membership number. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

We have blocked registrations from several countries because of the large quantities of spam that originate there. If the forum denies your legitimate registration, please ask our administrator for an exception. webmaster@adventurecycling.org will need your IP address, which you can find at many web sites, including http://whatismyipaddress.com.

Author
Topic: Pannier Attachment Question (Read 2887 times)

I have a Jannd Low Front Rack and Ortlieb Front Roller Classics. Attaching the racks was fairly simple, but my question is, how tightly should the panniers attach to the rack? I used the specified plastic inserts on the locking hooks, but they do not feet snugly. The hooks freely slide around on the rack. The dial locking mechanism on the bottom also does not fit snugly. It seems like there must be a way to make them fit more securely. I can't imagine listening them rattle around for thousands of miles.

Do i need to add pieces of rubber to the rack to fill the space, or does it sound like I have done something wrong? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

The first is the rack tube/pannier hook interface - the correct spacers should be reasonably snug - but it depends on the rack tubing size. Jandd uses 3/8" tubing for that rack I believe which is 9.5mm in diameter and Ortlieb spacers are for 8, 11 and 16mm so using the 11 mm inserts will leave things a bit loose. This isn't a big deal, but I have used a special electrical rubber tape from Home Depot that just sticks to itself and put a couple of wraps of that to take up some space... it doesn't need to be that tight or it'll be too hard to get the panniers off. Regular electrical tape can work - but I don't like to put tape on things as it leaves a gooey residue.

Next, the placement of the hooks should be such that the bags can't slide along the rails. So the hooks on the panniers should be at the ends of the rails so they can't slide. Ortlieb panniers have an easy and wide range of adjustability of those hooks.

The final adjustment of the lower clip should be arranged so that you can slide it behind one of the bars easily and remove it easily. It seems to work so that I'll put one hook on the rail and tilt the pannier and then slide it down so the lower hook fits behind a rail as the other clip drops on the top rail.

My Ortlieb panniers rattle around quite a bit, but have never come off. The bottom hook is pretty loose and lets the panniers rock a bit. I don't think you want them so tight that they are constantly under stress.

The top hooks, although also loose, have a positive attachment such that they cannot jump off accidentally.

If things were too tight you'd have to fuss with them too much to get them on and off. I like the fact that you can just drop them on and pull them off.

I wound up cutting a small piece of rubber from an old tube, wrapping it once around the rack, and then wrapping it with electrical tape. This seems to be working pretty well, though it may feet a bit too securely now. I used a piece of rubber on both clips and the dial fastener on the bottom. I may reduce the amount of tape by a little to make it easier to take them on and off.I wish Ortlieb had a wider selection of clips, and the clips were lined with rubber to prevent sliding. I guess it was a little unrealistic to expect a perfect, but that is what I was expecting. Their handle bar bag attachment worked like a champ!